Malaysian Jackfruit To Debut in China This Weekend

According to Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Chan Foong Hin, the first batch of Malaysian jackfruit is expected to arrive in China this weekend and will be displayed at the China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning on Sept. 16–19.

Malaysia recently became the third country, after Thailand and Vietnam, to gain access to the Chinese market for fresh jackfruit, with the deal being finalized in April of this year.

According to Chan, the first export trial initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security after the signing of the agreement was followed by the General Administration of Customs of China evaluating and authorizing jackfruit farms and processing facilities.

“So far, eight processing facilities and seven orchards from Pahang, Johor, Melaka and Selangor have been submitted to the GACC for export approval,” he said, adding that the Chinese authorities inspected three farms and three processing facilities on July 12 and 13.

The Malaysian jackfruit industry reportedly sees the opening of the Chinese market as an excellent opportunity for the fruit, of which there is currently an oversupply on the domestic market. Meanwhile, China already has well-established flows of the fruit from neighboring countries with significantly greater production capacity. To withstand the fierce competition, Chan predicted that the focus would be on quality rather than quantity and that only premium fruit would be exported to China.

Malaysian jackfruit exporter Francis Hong, whose first batch is being shipped to China this week, stated that Malaysia benefits from a unique combination of weather and soil that is ideal for jackfruit cultivation. Hong’s first shipment will consist of one container with 900 fruits.

Another exporter, Richard Thang, observed that Malaysian jackfruit had a sweeter flesh due to ripening on the tree. According to Thang, prices of Malaysian fruit in the Chinese market are expected to be higher than those of Thai and Vietnamese fruit, comparable to the price hierarchy in European markets, specifically the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France. For fruits weighing 10–15 kilograms, the average retail price in the United Kingdom is currently 8 British pounds ($10) per kilogram. Thang’s initial batch for the Chinese market will amount to 500 fruits.

The MAFS predicts that jackfruit shipments to China will eventually reach an annual value of 10 million Malaysian ringgit ($2.1 million). In 2021, Malaysia’s exports of the fruit totaled 18.5 million ringgit ($4.0 million), with Singapore being the key destination.

Image: Unsplash

This article was based on a Chinese article. Read the original article.